A few thoughts on creativity

Creativity is another way of saying hard work. It’s not easy to shake dominant methods and worldviews. It takes mental labor. Not to mention the difficulty and practice required to become proficient enough at something to execute on your paradigm-busting new vision. Here’s some great stuff that reminds what creativity is all about.

Hugh MacLeod’s wonderful little booklet, “How to Be Creative” is a must read. It’s full of mostly unsexy but completely true stuff. It’s inspiring, in a challenging, substantive way.

We value things for how happy they make us. In other words, economic value is subjective, and we’ll pay based on our level of satisfaction with an item. Remembering this can help us find creative, often surprisingly simple solutions to problems. Marketer Rory Sutherland gives some unexpected advice for solving common problems in his TED talks on perspective (below), and sweating the small stuff.